Servers And Storage Consolidation in Asia/Pacific is Inseparable

Source: IDC, 2004

SINGAPORE August 24, 2004- According to a recent IDC report, "Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) Networked Storage Opportunities" (Doc#AP223207L), storage consolidation is motivated not only by storage related issues, but by the organization's servers and storage infrastructure. This shows that the ability to provide consolidation services for both server and storage systems would give the vendor a better value proposition for their clients when compared with other vendors that do not have server consolidation capabilities. The following figure shows the relationship between storage and servers consolidation services.

Traditionally, small companies have always been thought to have limited need for storage or server consolidation. However, IDC believes that there is noticeable level of server and storage consolidation amongst even small enterprises. It is clear from the chart that users will usually consolidate both their severs and storage when there are consolidation projects being undertaken.

"For medium to large enterprises, storage-only consolidation comprises less than 1% of total projects," said Timothy Wong, Market Analyst, IDC Asia/Pacific. These organizations typically have larger and more complex storage systems and therefore require these storage systems to be more efficiently run. "For larger organizations, it is important to have the whole IT infrastructure reviewed and upgraded, and not just to have an efficient storage system for business success and operational efficiency," Mr. Wong further added. This trend can be further substantiated by the fact that 70% of small businesses and about 90% of both medium and large enterprises chose to consolidate both servers and storage.

These results show that there is a strong correlation between the degree of consolidation activities and company size. The study shows that in the next 6-12 months, there is a notable increase in the percentage of small organizations that are planning to consolidate their servers and storage systems. This shows the increasing awareness of the need for consolidation and industry pressures as well as the appeal of new low-cost products that have made it favorable for smaller companies to consider consolidating their entire IT infrastructure.

As servers and storage systems are closely inter-linked, there is an increasing shift towards networked solutions to create a more efficient infrastructure. Storage software, such as SAN and NAS management software, storage resource management software, automated backup software and unifying management solutions will therefore play an increasingly important role. This is a prevalent trend in today's market and IDC predicts that it will intensify in the coming years.